| 498 | 499 | 500 | 501 | 502 |
| 1 | 236 | 472 | 708 | 944 |
|
of religion, and chaplains, indignant in the name of medicine--the poor
Green Box, suspected of sorcery in Gwynplaine and of hydrophobia in
Homo, had only one thing in its favour (but a thing of great power in
England), municipal inactivity. It is to the local authorities letting
things take their own course that Englishmen owe their liberty. Liberty
in England behaves very much as the sea around England. It is a tide.
Little by little manners surmount the law. A cruel system of legislation
drowned under the wave of custom; a savage code of laws still visible
through the transparency of universal liberty: such is England.
The Laughing Man, "Chaos Vanquished," and Homo might have mountebanks,
preachers, bishops, the House of Commons, the House of Lords, her
Majesty, London, and the whole of England against them, and remain
undisturbed so long as Southwark permitted.
The Green Box was the favourite amusement of the suburb, and the local
authorities seemed disinclined to interfere. In England, indifference is
protection. So long as the sheriff of the county of Surrey, to the
jurisdiction of which Southwark belongs, did not move in the matter,
Ursus breathed freely, and Homo could sleep on his wolf's ears.
So long as the hatred which it excited did not occasion acts of
violence, it increased success. The Green Box was none the worse for it,
for the time. On the contrary, hints were scattered that it contained
something mysterious. Hence the Laughing Man became more and more
popular. The public follow with gusto the scent of anything contraband.
To be suspected is a recommendation. The people adopt by instinct that
500
Page
Quick Jump
|